COMPARATIVE STUDY OF ENGLISH AND RUSSIAN FAIRY TALES

Муниципальное автономное общеобразовательное учреждение

Апрелевская средняя общеобразовательная школа №1

Научно-исследовательская работа в номинации

«Английский язык»

COMPARATIVE STUDY OF ENGLISH AND RUSSIAN FAIRY TALES

ученица 7 «В» класса Гусс Валерия

Руководитель:

Кривогорницына Надежда Сергеевна-  

учитель английского языка

Апрелевка, 2014 г.

CONTENT

1. INTRODUCTION

Folklore, a genre of children’s literature, is always considered as one of the most mysterious and interesting genres. Folklore is defined as stories that originated orally and sometimes have no authors.Given these qualities, folklore is often considered as a mirror that reflects different groups of people’s cultures and moral values.

According to my hypothesis it is worthy to study the similarities and the differences between Russian folklore and western folklore. It will help students who are interested in folklore to gain some insight and increase their cultural awareness. By examining the similar and the different social significance of folklore, reflections of human nature and social values, connections can be made to students’ real life; it could make the studing more fun and have ripple effects.

Purpose of statement:

The purpose of the study is to help the students to gain insight about comparing western folklore and Russian folklore. It also will help students who are Folklore from Russia interested in English folklore and cultures to know more about the similarities and differences between cultures and increase their cultural awareness. By examining the similarities and the differences between Russian folklore and Western folklore, children will learn more about their own and others’ heritage, moral world, and life styles among different cultural groups of people.

Object of research- the British and Russian fairy tales.

Subject of research - similarities and the differences between Russian folklore and English folklore.

Research methods: observation, comparison and analysis.

Research questions:

The research questions in the study are presented as follows:

1. What kind of folklore exists in both Russian and English cultures?
2. What are the similarities and differences between two cultures’ folklore?

Fairy tales are stories either created or strongly influenced by oral traditions. Their plots feature stark conflicts between good and evil, with magic and luck determining the usually happy endings. While each culture and geographic region of the world has its own body of folk tales and fairy tales that it considers "its own," certain themes and motifs tend to be repeated across many cultures and time periods. Universal human emotions such as love, hate, courage, kindness, and cruelty appear in bold, broad strokes on the canvas of fairy tales. Because of the worldwide ubiquity of fairy tales, their imagery and tropes have had a vast impact on many different forms of literature. The elements and echoes of fairy tales are alive in plays, movies, and books for all ages. Students should read and learn to understand fairy tales so that they can better comprehend the structures of literature as well as for the sake of the wonder, pleasure, and human understanding these stories can provide in their own right.

1. Elements of Fairy Tales

         A fairy tale is a fictional story that may feature folkloric characters (such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, witches, giants, and talking animals) and enchantments, often involving a far-fetched sequence of events. The term is also used to describe something blessed with unusual happiness, as in "fairy tale ending" (a happy ending) or "fairy tale romance," though not all fairy tales end happily. Fairy tales are a genre in literature. They have their roots in the oral tradition. Fairy tales with very similar plots, characters, and motifs are found spread across many different cultures. Fairy tales also tend to take on the color of their location, through the choice of motifs, the style in which they are told, and the depiction of character and local color.

A fable is a brief, succinct story, in prose or verse, that features animals, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature which are anthropomorphized (given human qualities), and that illustrates a moral lesson (a "moral"), which may at the end be expressed explicitly in a pithy maxim.

A fable differs from a parable in that the latter excludes animals, plants, inanimate objects, and forces of nature as actors that assume speech and other powers of humankind.

 Fairy tales are special stories that are different from other kinds of stories. How can you tell when a story is a fairy tale? Well, there are things in the story called elements that will help you decide. Let's take a look at some of the elements of fairy tales. Not every fairy tale has all of these elements, but a story must have at least a few of them to be called a fairy tale.

The elements are:

1. Special beginning and/or ending words

One of the elements of fairy tales is that they often start and end with special words like "once upon a time," "a long, long time ago," and "they lived happily ever after." When you read those words, you know that the story could be a fairy

2) Good character

Fairy tales always have at least one good character, or person, in the story.

Do you see a kind, innocent character? Is the good character clever? Is s/he helped by others?

 3) Evil character

An example of a bad character is the evil witch in Hansel and Gretel.

Do you see a witch? A demon? An evil stepmother?A sinister gnome?

In the end, the evil character usually loses somehow…

 4) Royalty

        Is there a castle? A prince? A princess? A king? A queen?

Very often, one of the characters is royalty, which means that the person is a king, a queen, a prince, or princess.

5) Setting

Another element of a fairy tale is that the story often takes place in a castle, a forest, or a town. This is called the setting. The setting is where the story takes place. Little Red Riding Hood is set in the forest, and part of Cinderella is set in the castle of the prince.

6) Poverty

Do you see a poor working girl, a poor family, a poor shepherd? – Do you see poor people trying to eke out a living to have enough to eat?

 7) Magic and Enchantments

Magic is often an element of fairy tales.

Do you see magical things happening? Do you see talking animals/objects? You might see fairies, trolls, elves, goblins, etc.

8) Problem

One of the most important elements in a fairy tale is that they always have a problem that must be solved. For example, in the Princess and the Pea, the prince wants to find a real princess to marry. His mother, the queen, helps him find a real princess by putting a pea in the bed to find out if the princess can feel it.

 9) Reoccurring Patterns / Numbers

Do you see any patterns? Often, you’ll see things, phrases, tasks appear in  "threes," “sixes,” and/or "sevens"

 10) Universal Truths

The tale probably touches on some universal experiences (i.e., coming of age) or hopes (i.e., to have enough food and love)

 Common motifs:

• Talking animals / objects
• Cleverness / trickster / word games
• Traveler’s tales
• Origins ~ where do we come from?
• Triumph of the poor
• Human weakness explored (i.e., curiosity, gluttony, pride, laziness, etc.)
• Human strengths glorified (i.e., kindness, generosity, patience, etc.)
• Trickster (sometimes a hero, sometimes on the side of evil but humans benefit)
• Tall story (slight exaggeration – hyperbole)
• Magic words or phrases; repetition of phrases/words (abracadabra!)
• Guardians (fairy godmothers, mentors, magical helpers, guides, etc.)
• Monsters (dragons, ogres, evil creatures, etc.)
• Struggle between good and evil, light and dark
• Youngest vs. Oldest (sons, daughters, sibling rivalry)
• Sleep (extended sleep, death-like trances)
• Impossible tasks (ridiculously mind-numbing, fantastic effort needed to complete, etc.)
• Quests
• Gluttony / Starvation (there’s a fine line between eating for survival and succumbing to temptation)
• Keys, passes (opening new doors)
• Donors, Benefactors, Helpers

Most children are familiar with a least a few fairy tales. These stories are shared folk tales that are passed down to children all around the world. They are often moralistic, told to instill values. Most fairy tales can be divided into a few broad categories, although some bleed into multiple categories. Fairly tales are traditionally shared orally or read from books, but many have been adapted into films or television shows.

In conclusion we can say that all fairy tales have Common Elements such as:

1. A fairy tale begins with "Once upon a time...”

2. Fairy tales happened in the long ago.

3. Fairy Tales have fantasy and make believe in them.

4. Fairy Tales have clearly defined Good characters vs. Evil characters.

5. Royalty is usually present in a fairy tale, a beautiful princess/handsome Prince.

6. There may be magic with giants, elves, talking animals, witches or fairies.

7. Fairy tales have a problem that needs to be solved.

8. It often takes three tries to solve the problem.

9. Fairy tales have happy endings – “they all lived happily ever after.”

10. Fairy tales usually teach a lesson or have a theme.

1.2 Types of fairy tales

1.Animal Tales

• A large number of fairy tales feature animals prominently. Many of these stories are quite old and might also be considered folk tales or fables. The animals in these stories can often talk and act like people. They are used to convey simple morals as the animals are symbolic of abstract ideas. Such stories as "Cat and Mouse in Partnership," "The Billy Goats Gruff" and any of Aesop's fables fall into this category.

2.Tales of Magic

• One motif that figures prominently in a large number of fairy tales is magic. Most fairy tales present some magical or fantastic element, but these stories are ones where the narrative is centered on magical elements. Well-known stories, such as "Rumpelstiltskin" and "The Princess and the Frog," feature magic spells and supernatural elements. In some cases, a magical force imprisons characters, while in others; magic seems to be a device to move the story forward.

3.Monster Stories

• In monster stories, the protagonist encounters some sort of ghoul, ogre, witch or troll. These monsters are invariably the antagonist and present an obstacle that the hero must overcome. Stories like "Jack and the Beanstalk" and "Hansel and Gretel" fall into this category. Monsters may represent punishment for disobeying an authority figure or a general threat that children should be wary of.

4.Princess Stories

• Princesses and other royals figure prominently in many fairy tales. These stories have been the subject of several film and television adaptations. These stories often play into children's fantasies about royalty and often feature commoners marrying royalty or discovering they are royalty themselves.

Interim conclusion: Tales of Russian and Western countries are original, but passing through the epochs they have common elements and types.

1. FAIRY TALES’ CHARACTERISTICS

2.1 Characteristics of Russian Folk Tales

Folk tales carry the history, knowledge, beliefs, and morals of a people for centuries before their societies develop literature. Folk tales exist in almost every society, but few have such a rich tradition of storytelling, as do the people of Russia. Full of witches, talking animals, foolish yet lucky men, and wise people of all ages, Russian folk tales entertained and enlightened generations of Russians.

Folk tales from Western Europe are often called Fairy Tales because many stories, such as Cinderella, use fairies as characters. In Russia, on the other hand, there is no tradition of fairy people who occasionally appear and help humans. Instead of unreal people, magical animals or objects more often assist characters in Russian tales. Russian stories are more likely to be filled with things people see every day than with fantasy creatures.

Animals play an important part in many Russian stories. In many tales, they are highly intelligent and able to communicate with people. A few stories, such as The Wolf and the Goat, have animals as the sole characters. In most stories, animals are helpers or advisors to humans. For example, in Prince Ivan and the Grey Wolf, a young boy is helped on an adventure by a shape-shifting wolf. In Koschei the Deathless, Prince Ivan goes hunting, but spares three animals (the stories vary as to which three) that later reappear when he needs help. Unlike Western stories with magical, unusual, or monstrous creatures, which were never seen but were believed to exist, Russian stories more often made use of things commonly seen animals with special abilities.

1)Uncommon Characters

There are three unseen characters that sometimes make appearances in stories. Possibly originating from the story of St. George, a few stories feature dragons. Another imaginary animal is the firebird. Originating in pre-Christian legends, the firebird must have fascinated Russians as much as it did the characters they told of. One of the few non-human, non-animal characters that sometimes appear is devil or evil spirit. Though not commonly encountered in daily life, Russians through the Russian Orthodox Church knew the devil.

2) Amazing Objects

Talking or animate objects rarely appear in Russian folklore. An exception is the popular story of Vasilisa the Beautiful. In it, the witch Baba Yaga has an animated, talking gate and tree. Her house doesn't seem to be intelligent, but it moves on command. More often, objects have special properties, which help their users. In story The Soldier and Death, a wanderer is given a deck of cards with which he wins every game and a sack that pulls in anything he commands to go inside. Much as with the animal characters, familiar objects often play an important role in helping folk tale characters.

3) Wondrous Places

One of the most imaginative aspects of many Russian folk tales is their locale. Some stories take place in an underground kingdom. In The Three Kingdoms, a young man is lowered into an underground land where he finds a copper, a silver, and a gold kingdom. Often, each place a character passes through is richer and more glorious than the next. When someone traveled a long way, they were often said to pass through the thrice-tenth kingdoms. That is, thee groupings of ten kingdoms. The final kingdom is, according to many tales, a place of magic, but also a place of evil. It is here that some stories say Baba Yaga and Koschei the Deathless live. Using common objects or animals in stories, Russian storytellers often imagined fascinating places to set their stories in.

4) Fascinating People

If the locations were places that common people could only dream of, many of the characters were drawn from people they knew well. One of the most common characters is the simpleton who makes good. In a few stories he is known as Ivan-who-lies-on-the-stove (the stove being the warmest place in a house). This is always a lazy, good-for-nothing who, through strength, cunning, or just luck, becomes a hero. Another popular character is the wise young girl. Often a beauty, this character uses cunning against those who try to do her harm or place her in difficult circumstances. In Vasilisa the Beautiful, a favorite of many Russians, a young girl finds herself in the house of a witch, but manages to escape owing to her quick thinking and kindness to others. Though most stories are about ordinary people who do great things, some stories tell of adventurous members of the royal family. Though these characters hold the highest positions in society, they often are characterized in the same way as ordinary people. For example, many stories tell of the adventures of a young prince. Often called Prince Ivan, these characters often start off as something of a simpleton who finds his way into adventure. Perhaps because Prince Ivan is young his character still seemed familiar to the people. The Tsar himself rarely plays anything more than a peripheral role in any folk story.

No article on Russian folk tales would be complete without a detailed description of one of Russia's most enduring characters, the witch Baba Yaga. There are a few other magical people in Russian folk tales, Koschei being one of the best known. But no other character finds their way into so many stories as Baba Yaga. Baba Yaga lives in the forest in a house made of bones standing up on chicken legs. Unlike western witches, who were said to travel on brooms, Baba Yaga travels in a pestle by banging the mortar up and down. It is also said that she eats children. In many stories children find her house and must avoid being eaten. The place where Baba Yaga lives is often described as a place of wonders. As stated above, she lives in the magical thrice-tenth land. Her horses are said to be the fastest in the world. Koschei rides one, and Prince Ivan needed one to out run Koschei. In her home, she has a talking cat, talking horses, talking mice, and a tree and a gate, which are intelligent and animated. Often the creatures in her home loath her and help her captive children to escape. In some of the stories involving children, it is a stepmother or other relative who send them to Baba Yaga to get rid of them. One can imagine parents telling their children these tales, and then warning them to behave or Baba Yaga would get them.

5) Religious Influence

It is often said that the Russian Orthodox Church has been the greatest cultural influence on the Russian people. However, overtly Christian themes or subjects rarely find their way into folk tales. When religious symbols or characters do appear they may be mixed with folk beliefs or practices. Priests occasionally appear in stories, but it is often their children or grandchildren that the stories focus on. Higher-ranking clergy who ordinary people would have met only rarely are seldom mentioned. Perhaps the sacred nature of the Church prevented storytellers from creating stories with religious themes. Another possibility is that the vast amount of literature that already existed chronicling the lives of the saints.

Interim conclusion:

Russian folk tales have elements that vary from the mundane to the fantastic. Most stories feature ordinary people who are thrust into extraordinary situations. These tales entertained young and old and helped them to understand their past and present. Many stories held hidden warnings against greed or bad behavior. Others provided encouragement to people in difficult situations. Russian folk takes have flowed like a river through the history of the Russian people, carrying along with them the heart of the people.

2. Characteristics of English Folk Tales

What is a fairy tale and whence did it come, and how are we to find its beginning? Having found it, how are we to follow it down through the ages? How shall it be classed, what are the available types, which seek to include it and show its nature? And lastly, what are the books that are to be the main practical sources of fairy tales for the teacher of little children? The remaining pages attempt to give some help to the scholars who wishes to increase their resources with an intelligent knowledge of the material.

Many times the question, "What is a fairy tale?" has been asked. One has said: "The fairy tale is a poetic presentation of a spiritual truth." George MacDonald has answered: "Undine is a fairy tale." Mr. G. K. Chesterton has said: "A fairy tale is a tale told in a morbid age to the only remaining sane person, a child. A legend is a fairy tale told to men when men were sane." Some, scorning to reply, have treated the question as one similar to, "What poem do you consider best in the English language?" As there are many tales included here which do not contain a fairy, fairy tales here are taken to include tales which contain something fairy or extraordinary, the magic or the marvelous-fairies, elves, or trolls, speaking animals, trees, or a talkative Tin Soldier.

The origin of the word "fairy," as given by Thomas Keightley in his Fairy Mythology, and later in the Appendix of his Tales and Popular Fictions, is the Latin fatum, "to enchant." The word was derived directly from the French form of the root. The various forms of the root were:-

    Latin - fatum, "to enchant."

    French - fee, feerie, "illusion."

    Italian - fata.

    Provencal  - fada.

The word "fairy" was used in four senses. Fairy represented:

    (1) Illusion, or enchantment.

    (2) Abode of the Faes, the country of the Fays.

    (3) Inhabitants collectively, the people of Fairyland.

    (4) The individual in Fairyland, the fairy Knight, or Elf.

The word was used in the fourth sense before the time of Chaucer^[1]. Fairies were identified with nymphs and elves.

The origin of fairy tales is a question which has kept many very able scholars busy and which has not yet been settled to the satisfaction of many. What has been discovered resolves it mainly into four different origins of fairy tales.

    Fairy tales are detritus of myth, surviving echoes of gods and heroes.

    Against this theory it may be said that, when popular tales have incidents similar to Greek heroic myths, the tales are not detritus of myth, but both have a more ancient tale as their original source. There was:

    (1) A popular tale, which reflected the condition of a rude people, a tale full of the monstrous and the miraculous.

    (2) The same tale, a series of incidents and plot, with the monstrous element modified, which survived in the oral traditions of illiterate peasantry.

    (3) The same plot and incidents, as they existed in heroic epics of cultivated people. A local and historical character was given by the introduction of known places and native heroes. Tone and manners were refined by literary workmanship, in the Rig Veda, the Persian King-book, the Homeric Epics, etc.

All scholars agree that some tales are evidently myths of sun and dawn. If we examine the natural history of savages, we do find summer feasts, winter feasts, rituals of sorrow for the going of summer and of rejoicing for its return, anxious interest in the sun, interest in the motion of the heavenly bodies, the custom of naming men and women from the phenomena of nature, and interest in making love, making war, making fun, and making dinner.

Interim conclusion: Making a conclusion we can say that in both cultures there were unreal people, magical animals, fairies, elves or trolls, speaking trees that assist characters.

3. COMPARISON ANALYSIS OF RUSSIAN AND ENGLISH FAIRY TALES

3.1. The comparison of Russian tale “Masha and three bears” and English tale “Goldilocks and three bears”.

Fairy tales are more than true –not because they tell us dragons exist,but because they tell us dragons can be beaten.G. K. Chesterton.

Fairy tale is a special kind of literature. It is a colorful dream worldfor children and their parents. There are a lot of fairy tales all over the world. People in every country have their own tales.There are different kinds of tales. For example,magic tales, tales about animals and tales about everyday life.Tales are made not only for children; some adults read themwith a great pleasure.Reading a tale, we are excited, worried and lived with it character. We read tales from our childhood, like them, remember and imagine that we are in this tale.Some tales became popular in different countries. For example, “Masha and three bears” and “Goldilocks and three bears”.

The aim of our research is to compare Russian version of tale “Masha and three bear” and English one “Goldilocks and three bears”, to find common features and differences.The object of our research is tales “Masha and three bears” and “Goldilocks and three bear”.

We would like to compare Russian tale “Masha and three bear”, and Britain tale “Goldilocks and three bears”.There are many differences and common features.It was already sad that our tale is a translation of British one by

Lev Tolstoy. In Southey's tale, three bears –"a Little, Small, Wee Bear, a Middle-sized Bear, and a Great, Huge Bear" – live together in a house in the woods. Southey describes them as very good- natured, trusting, harmless, tidy, and hospitable. Each bear has his own porridge bowl, chair, and bed. One day they take a walk in the woods while their porridge cools. An old woman (who is described at various points in the story as impudent, bad, foul-mouthed, ugly, and dirty and a vagrant) discovers the bears' dwelling. She looks through a window, peeps through the keyhole, and lifts the latch. Assured that no one is home, she walks in. The old woman eats the Wee Bear's porridge, then settles into his chair and breaks it. Prowling about, she finds the bears' beds and falls asleep in Wee Bear's bed. The climax of the tale is reached when the bears return. Wee Bear finds the old woman in his bed and cries, "Somebody has been lying in my bed, –and here she is!" The old woman starts up, jumps from the window, and runs away never to be seen again.In modern version we read about little girl –Goldilocks, not about this old woman. And in the end of this story the girl and the bears are friends. In our tale there are three bears too. But bears have got names –Mihailo Potapovich, Nastasiya Petrovna and Mishutka.

At first, our girl hadn’t name, but later she became Mashenka. In our tale bears are not friendly. The Father Bear, Mihailo Potapovich is huge, wicked bear, the Mother Bear is not so huge and wicked, but she is strict and Mishutka is not friendly as in British tale. And Masha is a good, strayed in a forest girl.

In this work we show that tales in different countries may be very similar. Some writers borrowed the plot by others.But every country has tales that aren’t known in other countries because we have different history, language, character and mentality.

All tales teach us to be kind, friendly and honest. We made a survey and asked 20 pupils.

1.Do you like reading tales?

2.Which tale do you like “Goldilocks and three bears” or “Masha and three bears”?

3. What character do you prefer: Masha and her bears; Goldilocks and her bear? 100% like reading tales. And all pupils know both tales, because we have read it at Home Reading lesson.9 pupils (45%) like “Masha and three bears”. 11 pupils (55%) like “Goldilocks and three bears”.

2 pupils (10%) prefer Masha’s Bears.

3pupils (15%) prefer Goldilocks’ Bears.

9 pupils (45%) prefer the Goldilocks.

6 pupils (30%) prefer Masha.

Performed this comparative analysis we can say that the same, for the first side, tales may be very different. It is connected with different cultures and mentalities of two countries. However,children like not only their native literature but literature of other countries.

3. The comparison of Russian tale “Three Kalatches and One Baranka” and the English tale “The Lion-Hearted Kitten”.

And also I would like to compare a Russian tale retold by Lev Tolstoy“Three Kalatches and One Baranka” and an English tale “The Lion-Hearted Kitten”retold byPeggy Bacon.

The aim of our research is to compare Russian version of tale “Three Kalatches and One Baranka” and English one “The Lion-Hearted Kitten”, to find common features and differences.

The object of our research is tales “A muzhik” and “A striped kitten”.

Fairy tales are created in the form stated as narration because all cultures have longstanding story-telling traditions. In order to inform listeners or readers about the world of the fairytale, narratives usually begin with an orientation. This includes the time of the story, its spatial setting and the characters. In Russian linguistic tradition this relationship is called chronotop. Let us define the chronotop in the two fairy-tales. The British one has analogous combination: an uncertain time in the past - forest - animals. As for then Russian tale its chronotop is as follows: an uncertain time in the past - a muzhik (a Russian peasant of former times) – a shop. The chronotop acquaints the students with the most essential preliminary details, which will be developed later on.

Our conclusion from the first step of analysis is the likely manner of opening the scene of action and portraying the characters against the background of old time. Thus our two nations have the same tradition in the compositional pattern of opening a fairy-tale.

Once the story world setting is complete, the fairy-tale sets a goal to the hero (heroes), which involves a problem that prevents an easy attainment of the goal.

In the English tale, the kitten did his best to avoid the unlucky fate of being eaten by a tiger. And in the Russian fairy tale the muzhik had to subdue his hunger and eat up to satiate himself. It is only natural that the reader follows the characters' efforts to overcome the problem carefully.

The next step of analysis is to focus on the hero (actor) and watch the actions he/she uses to solve the problem and achieve the goal. This part of the magic story is called resolution.

Resolution that was made by the hero in the British fairy tale says that with the help of flattery the kitten saved himself from big gray wolf (and lived happily ever after).

In the Russian tale the muzhik bought a baranka (a little fancy bread in the form of a ring), got fed at last and was satisfied and thereby he solved his problem.

Thus in the two fairy-tales the heroes found a way out of their difficultieswhich is suggestive of sharing the same values in the two mentalities and ofstriving to justice and a "happy end".

If the reader (or listener) is a smart person he will make correct conclusions, understand the moral of the fairytale. A fairy tale may include a sort of a moral lesson or a lesson of some other kind and we may read an abstract which

brings us back to the title of the narrative.

In conclusion we can say that whether explicit or implicit the moral lesson is always thereand the task of the reader or listener to come to it either independently or (in childhood) with the help of adults.

Interim conclusion: Tales in different countries could be similar and have similar plots. But there are tales that have different history, language, character. However all tales teach us to be kind, friendly and honest and give us a moral lesson.Through the comparative analysis of the thoughts, behavior, self-evaluation of the characters, which they undertake, the students realize that there are more common than differentiating features in our folklore.

4. CONCLUSION

The research results provide important support to categorizing the tales from two cultural systems, to identify the similarities and differences, and to decode the unique cultural values. Tales of two countries have the same elements and types. Russian and English tales have the same beginnings with “Once upon a time...” and endings – “they all lived happily ever after”. Fairy tales happened in the long ago. Moreover fairy tales have a problem that needs to be solved and it often takes three tries to solve the problem. In both cultures tales have clearly defined Good characters vs. Evil characters.

And despite of different culture and different languages tales can have the same plots, similar characters or their plots can differ totally, but they would have a similar moral lesson. Both cultures have used a variety of unreal people like Baba Yaga, Koschei the Deathless (in Russian tales) or fairies, elves or trolls (in English tales), magical animals and trees that are highly intelligent and able to communicate with people. Fairy tales like a mirror reflect culture, traditions, history and mentality of the country.

The research studied folklore from both cultures. Based on the existing research results, the study compared a few classic traditional tales from both cultures. The findings show that folklore is a unique genre in children’s literature; it carries cultural values of different groups of people. It is helpful for children to gain cultural awareness and understand different cultural values from reading folklore. While are obvious limitations of the study, it is a worthwhile topic for future research.

5. SITES

1. http://www.sacred-texts.com
2. http://www.myshared.ru
3. http://en.wikipedia.org
4. http://smago.coe.uga.edu
5. http://www.yale.edu
6. http://www.vvsu.ru
7. http://www.answers.com
8. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Faerie_Queene
9. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Chaucer
10. http://er.nau.edu.ua
11. http://voices.yahoo.com
12. http://www.proshkolu.ru
13. http://festival.mggu-sh.ru
14. http://valsad5.ucoz.ru
15. http://www.it-n.ru
16. http://prezi.com
17. http://nsportal.ru
18. http://ertails.jimdo.com
19. http://keimena.ece.uth.gr
20. http://allbest.ru
21. http://edsitement.neh.gov/
22. http://www2.nkfust.edu.
23. http://www.primary-education-oasis.com